I hadn't slept yesterday night. My urge to practice had led to a full night without any sleep. Maybe that was the reason why I was being punished at this point.
Dreams have no patience at all! They could have waited till the next time I slept but no! In this heart pounding situation when the Palace is right in front of me, monsters are visible and we are heading forward; I must have a dream! My eyes rolled and I fell down unconscious. I could hear Druk calling out to me to confirm if I was okay. I could even feel Sounge's mouth touching my elbow. After falling from the hermit's back, I directly went into coma.
I did not even get time to register what had happened when I heard a voice. There was complete darkness. The red aura in the center was calling out to me. It wasn't long till the voice reached my ears. "Blaze Hunt!" The voice said and immediately I recognized it. How could I forget the voice of the Lord of Darknorian monsters? Phantom had a weird sense of humor to call me in a forced dream. "The Red One!" I stated.
"Very well! You remember me." The voice laughed. My anger poured out, not totally but just enough to say it in words. "Yes. I remember you and your silly deal. Now please don't tell me that you have come here to remind me of my part of the deal!" I sighed. The voice had paused for a moment but then spoke, "I know you are near the Abandoned Palace. The hermit and that Realm guy are trying to take you to some safety right now. Never judge my sudden appearance and godliness." I had to admit I was a bit shocked by Phantom's omnipresence. He could see what was happening to my body right now. Also, I noticed that being a god, he also knows about Realms which I had recently been introduced to.
The Red One had been watching every action of mine. I realized that doubting him would be a mistake. "I have called you here with pity. You have defeated two of the Jalaar brothers. Take this as a gift. I have to warn you about your next step. You are thinking to enter the region of the Palace. That is a wrong decision." Phantom's warning was scary though confusing. The fact that he could look up on our progress was a little disturbing.
"What do you mean? My friends are possibly in there!" I protested. Though the Red One knew better than I did, I couldn't ignore my friends. "Not 'possibly'. They are in there. The prisoners are somewhere inside. I can sense it." Phantom confirmed. "I am not restricting you from saving them. But I'm here to tell you more about the Palace defense. The Palace has an invisible circular barrier around it which reaches till cloud limit and goes deep into the ground as well. You cannot pass through the barrier unless the Palace wishes to. Being a God, I can say that the Abandoned Palace is not something to mess with. It already knows you are here."
These words from Phantom had left me startled and frightened at the same time. "You cannot see the barrier but it is close to where you are now. You cannot progress any further. If you do, then your body will burn and you will possibly die. Although the barrier is impenetrable, it too has a limit. Only energy stronger than the mighty defense of the Palace will help you break the barrier and move forward. Therefore, I warn you not to go any near to the Palace. How you will break the barrier, that's your concern. I have done my part. And by the way, your encounter with Inferno will soon arrive so remember your promise!" Saying so, the Red One's voice left the dark black room. I was left all alone in misery for two minutes.
Then the dream changed. I was in some sort of cellar. Looking around, I found my friends lying inside the prison. A guard came in and threw Amanda and Mark inside too. I wanted to protest but couldn't. The guard laughed and spoke, "You are captured by the Xorains and we don't leave prisoners easily, kids! Where will your heroes run now?" Oliver looked at the guard and smiled. He announced, "We don't have to run. Soon, he will come and wreck this whole place. He, the son of the King, the prince of Xorai – he'll be here. Save yourself now. Blaze Hunt is coming!!" My eyes were filled. Even in such circumstances, my friends had faith in me. I couldn't let them down.
Then I woke up. My eyes soon were able to see normally. On my right was Druk who was scouting the area ahead, making sure no monsters had spotted us. Left to me was Sounge who looked at me sadly, hoping to see me alive again. I sat up and the hermit as usual pounced on me. Druk turned around and bent to me. "Kid, are you okay?" He enquired. I nodded. Their expressions told me they wanted more details than just a nod.
I narrated to them the whole incident with Phantom and also explained the invisible barrier. I did not disclose details about the DELTAs for reasons even I don't know. "Okay! None of us is going any further." Druk ordered. I stood up and walked ahead, completely ignoring Druk's statement. "I just need to check if the barrier is actually there." I boldly stated. How stupid could I get?
Disobeying to the Red One's warning cost me. I ended up hitting my head on the invisible barricade. My hands became so heated I came running back. I fell on the ground due to my damaged legs. My heart throbbed near my chest with such intensity; I decided never to go near the barrier again until it is removed.
"Guys like you should be taught just like that. Idiot!" Druk shouted. I couldn't argue as it was my fault. I made a mental note never to disobey Gods ever again. Sounge came near me, expressing whether I was alright. I smiled at him and turned to Druk for further plans. "Alright. First thing's first. We need to get out of this place. Any minute now, a guard would spot us and we'll end up prisoners like your friends, kid." He explained.
I got up and we ventured back till it felt safe for us to discuss further. Trees were not present in the vast grassland. If they were, I would have sat under the shade of one. But I guess lying down on the ground with the grass touching your hand isn't bad. It felt like the grass had learnt how to tickle. Druk wandered back a little bit to the Palace to make sure we were not being chased. He came back and sat beside Sounge who was almost asleep. He was tired and needed rest.
"A power which is mightier than the Palace defense we just saw? Ridiculous! Is there even such a power?" I complained. But Druk was found in a deep thought. He then looked at me and said, "Maybe there is." He muttered. I sat up immediately.
"I'm not sure about Darknor but in my Realm, there is such energy." Druk declared. I was shocked. We were back to the Realm topic. "What energy are you talking about?" I enquired. He looked at me and sat up straight, ready for some explanation. "Look Blaze, there are various Realms as you know. Each Realm has a special energy in its Heart. The Heart is the center of the Realm due to which it exists. Some Realms have ridiculous and different kinds of strengths as their Heart energy. Though our Realm's energy isn't any kind of strength, we may be able to get a different kind of energy from my Realm." Druk said. I was confused from every angle possible. My Realms knowledge had just been expanded and I still needed time to understand.
"Basically, I mean to say that there is a specific type of flower found in our Realm. The name of the flower is Anderclar. It is very rare and is only found in a particular region of the Realm. Crushing the flower to collect the liquid, we can use it as energy. At least that's what the Legend says. Through it, we can obtain power so strong it will surely break the Palace barrier. But very few have been able to find it." Druk's explanation finally came to an end and now I was getting dizzy.
"So you are saying that we have to go all the way back to your Realm in order to attain the flowers?" I asked. He nodded. There was silence for a few minutes. Then I enquired, "Just out of curiosity, what is your Realm's Heart energy?" My question seemed to embarrass Druk. "It's water. Other Realms have much better energies but I am happy with water. We don't have roads everywhere for the most part. Maximum number places are filled with water and you either need a boat or you can even swim. Swimming isn't efficiently fast though. Buying a speedboat would be much better in a Realm like ours. Water is overpowered there and people are skilled in water fights." Druk explained.
"Does that mean you have ridiculous water powers and stuff?" I asked, fascinated. Druk made a long face and shook his head. "No. I am one of the best swimmers of our Realm though. Power was never my priority. Skills are." Druk said. I looked at Sounge. "Buddy, I think you should be here." I told him. His face looked sad and he protested. I asked him if he could swim in water during emergencies. His disagreement finalized that he was not coming with us. "Sounge, I say you stay here. This place is safe and at a good distance from the Palace. We will come back here after visiting the Realm. Then we shall continue our journey." My words convinced the hermit.
Druk suddenly kept his hand on his head and realized, "Oh! Neither my mistress nor I ever told you my Realm's name, did we?" I was taken aback. "Mistress? You mean the lady who introduced me to you? Who is she? And no, you didn't tell me your Realm even had a name." I said. Druk seemed a bit embarrassed to not have given me this information earlier. "My mistress is one of the chiefs of our Realm. Maybe not every Realm has chiefs. But we like to have certain rules and regulations. In order for the Realm to go on smoothly, there are chiefs appointed." Druk said.
"Once when I was a small kid – maybe fifty years young, I had a gang of watermen chasing me." Druk's words were coming out casually but it wasn't normal for me. He sees himself as a kid when he was fifty years of age! The guy really had a strange life. (Yes, I now treat Druk as a person and not as an animal. He is technically half a normal person.)
"Watermen?" I enquired. He really needed to explain better. "Watermen are special beings in our Realms. They are basically bullies. They chase anybody who they find exterior to their species and leave the victim once they have taken away all the valuables. The chiefs of our Realm cannot help either. Watermen have grown immensely in number since the past century and defeating them is almost an impossible task. People are even afraid to travel with their speedboats nowadays."
It took me a while to take in all the information. Then Druk continued, "Anyways, getting back to the story – the gang of watermen were after me. I still hadn't mastered the art of swimming at that time. Fifty years isn't enough! I had almost been caught when my mistress – Rebecca – arrived like an angel and saved the day. I caught hold of her hand and she guided me into the boat. Her driving skills were magnificent and at one point I thought we were safe. The watermen hadn't given up. One of them sprang up the water – like the dolphins do – and tried to get a hit. Rebecca was stronger than she seemed and fought the waterman with hand. Her action of tearing the enemy's mouth into two parts was unwatchable even for me – a person who now loves to fight."
"Long story short – I thanked Rebecca and asked her to accept me as her servant. She denied but I finally convinced her to keep me with her. Since then, our relationship has not been one of master and servant but of friends. I still like to call her my mistress." Druk concluded his story. Sounge and I had been listening attentively. "The only reason she hadn't told you her and the Realm's name was because she hadn't gain trust in you. She had asked me to tell you once I was convinced you were trustworthy. So pat yourself, kid! My Realm is called Glacidon." He announced.
I smiled and declared, "Alright, let's enter Glacidon!!"